Bistaar's three-day Arts Festival in Chittagong

The three-day Arts Festival organised by Bistaar: Chittagong Arts Complex will end today (Saturday) at Chittagong Shilpakala Academy premises, with the performance of band Meghdol.

The last day of the festival will begin with a discussion and presentation on architecture and its aesthetics by architect and songwriter Enamul Karim Nrjhar at 11am. The day's events also include poetry recitation by Rashed Hassan, indigenous music performance of ethnic groups of Chittagong Hill Tracts, performance of play 'Rhinoceros' by artistes of Fame School of Drama, Dance and Music and Baul songs.

Audiences of all walks of life had the opportunity to explore various forms of art during the festival, which began on December 28.

The festival started with a colourful dance performance by children. A fascinating performance on sitar by Sanjib Dutta followed. A mime show also entertained the audience. Artiste of The Silent Theatre performed a solo mime “Dour” while the artistes of Anadiaklpa performed “Step Up Girl”, a symbolic performance for empowerment of women.

Some 13 foreign students of Music Club of Asian University for Women (AUW) dazzled the spectators with their wonderful dancing and singing in different languages. From a mash-up song of different languages, ethnic dance form of Myanmar, harvest song in Malayalam to a beautiful attempt to sing Bangla song “Bhalo Achi Bhalo Theko” brought new life to the night. An intense solo performance of 'Rakkhushi' by actor Shubhra Biswas took the audience to a place of contemplation.

With the performance of kabial Ramesh Shil, the first day's performance came to an end.

The second day started with film exhibition and discussion in the morning which followed a vocal classical music performance by the artistes of Sangeet Bhaban. The day's performances also included poetry recitation by Sadaf Saaz Siddiqui in English, a tabla performance by Ashish Chowdhury, songs of Enamul Karim Nirjhar sung by different artistes and mono-drama “Novara” by Samiun Jahan Dola.

Three separate solo exhibitions also continued at the first floor of Zainul Art Gallery simultaneously throughout the festival. Viewers walked through the wooden sculpture exhibition titled “Arany Nandan” by Jahar Kumar Singha, painting and wall-art show titled “Wings of Buraq” by Roni Ahmed and a thematic art exhibition titled “Manjil” by Suman Ahmed.

The festival was inaugurated by Secretary of Ministry of Cultural Affairs Md. Ibrahim Hossain Khan, while veteran dancer and cultural activist Lubna Mariam was the chief guest at the inauguration ceremony.